Heatley stars as Senators crush Lightning

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- With the playoffs just around the
corner, Dany Heatley and the Ottawa Senators are warming up at
just the right time.

Heatley recorded his 11th multi-goal game of the season and
added an assist as the Senators posted their sixth win in seven
contests, a 7-2 triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Defensemen Joe Corvo and Christoph Schubert each had a goal and
two assists for Ottawa (45-23-8), which closed within five
points of Buffalo (48-20-7) for first place in both the
Northeast Division and Eastern Conference with six games
remaining.

"Tonight, we had 10 or 11 odd-man rushes because of good puck
movement," Senators coach Bryan Murray said. "That's a real
compliment to the guys buying in and working the right way now."

Lightning blue-liner Dan Boyle capped his third multi-goal
performance of the campaign three minutes into the second to
forge a 2-2 tie. But Heatley began and finished a spurt of five
straight tallies by the Senators, who have earned at least one
point in each of their last 11 games (7-0-4).

"We played well," Senators goaltender Ray Emery said. "It was
pretty close until the third, and then we broke it open. We're
playing good hockey."

With 7:19 to go in the middle session, Corvo rifled a shot from
the blue line that Heatley redirected past goaltender Marc Denis
to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead. The former Calder Trophy winner
completed the outburst with 8:14 remaining in the third, scoring
his 45th goal of the season to pull within four of Tampa Bay's
Vincent Lecavalier for the league lead.

"We're just going to keep shooting," Heatley said. "We had some
more chances tonight. We received a lot of scoring from a lot
of different people."

Captain Daniel Alfredsson, Patrick Eaves and Dean McAmmond each
had a goal and an assist for the Senators, who can clinch a
playoff spot with a regulation loss by the New York Islanders on
Sunday.

Lecavalier registered two assists for the first 100-point season
of his eight-year career for Tampa Bay (41-31-4), which
squandered a chance to pull even with Atlanta (39-27-10) atop
the Southeast Division.

"In the second period, we had some turnovers," Lightning center
Brad Richards said. "We also had penalties which led to a goal.
We talked before the game that we couldn't turn the puck over
against this team, and it showed."

Richards was, however, relieved Tampa Bay did not lose ground in
the divisional race.

"At the start of the week, we were six points out of the
division, and now we're at two," he said. "So overall, you can
look at it as a good week. It doesn't feel good to lose like
this, but we're in good position to win our division and have
the third seed."

Denis allowed five goals on 23 shots before giving way to Karri
Ramo, who stopped three of the five shots he faced for the
Lightning, who have lost nine of their last 11 meetings with the
Senators.

"We're going to get away from hockey tomorrow," Tampa Bay coach
John Tortorella said. "Then we're going to have a good practice
Monday and start our next week. I think if we go 5-2 at home
and split on the road, we have a real good opportunity to be
somewhere we want to be at the end of April."